Lake Michigan (Cook and Lake Counties, Illinois)

We are not responsible for errors or omissions. When boating, regardless of water depth, wear a PFD!

Lake Michigan Access points include: Belmont Harbor Burnham Harbor Calumet Harbor Chicago Harbor Includes: Monroe Harbor, Navy Pier, Oak Street Beach Diversey Harbor Illinois Beach State Park/Dead River Jackson Park Harbor 59th Street Harbor Montrose Park Harbor North Point Marina Waukegan Harbor Wilmette Harbor Fish in the lake include: (See harbor pages) Other information: Yachting in Chicago, from the Chicago Yachting Association Chicago Yacht clubs from chicagoboaters.com Waukegan Harbor info Lake Forest Park District beach info North Shore Yacht Club, affiliated with the Highland Park Park District Winnetka Park District sailing info Wilmette Park District sailing info

(Illinois Beach State Park, with Zion Nuclear Power Plant in distance) Lake Michigan is just a little bigger than the other bodies of water covered in these pages, and has its own special problems and hazards. One big problem is access. The shoreline is in general private property, and apparently Illinois doesn't require free public access points as some states do. The City of Chicago has lots of mostly free access, but things get tougher to the north. Most North Shore communities offer some form of swimming and boating access, but most of the time this is subject to fees or other restrictions. We'd planned to gather more information about Lake Michigan access, but...maybe next year. We got too busy scanning and touching up the charts listed below to work on badgering various park districts. As a result, we have nothing on places like Evanston, Winnetka, Highland Park, and Lake Forest, which all have some sort of access, but don't rate an NOAA chart. The park district links on the left may be some help. Sailing on the lake State Line Power Company (viewed from Chicago Park District Property)

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